Right Pundits

American Guns returned to the Discovery Channel last night with its Season Two premier. The Gunsmoke gun shop, owned by Rich Wyatt and his Colorado family, got an unusual order from a client to build a punt gun. A punt gun is basically a huge, long shotgun, mounted to a punt boat and had been used for commercial duck hunting. These bad boys have 10-12 foot long barrels and can down 50 ducks in a single blast. Rich quotes the customer $10,000 to build one from scratch. As his team of gunsmiths begin work on the project, Rich enlists his daughter, Paige, to help out and sends her on a BB shopping expedition. They′ll need 5,000 BBs just for one round!

Down in the basement workshop, the gunsmiths bicker over designing the weapon. Scott, their expert on barrels, conflicts with Brian, who is given overall responsibility for the project. Given the amount of BB shot and black powder to be used, the idea of making the barrel out of a 3-inch plumber pipe with an endcap screwed on the back end is dangerous. The whole thing could turn out to be one big pipe bomb.

Back upstairs, Rich meets a new customer, Rob, who wants to trade his Remington 700 rifle for a Model 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol. At first, Rich plays hard ball with the deal, but them mellows when he learns that Rob was with the 10th Mountain Division, a U.S. Army unit with a long history. Rob did a tour in Somalia and was involved in the effort to rescue Army Rangers during the ′Blackhawk Down′ incident. So Rich agrees to give Rob a sweet deal for a customized M1911.

Paige returns from her shopping and finds daddy working on the .45 himself. After he explains the significance of the customer, she volunteers to help out. Rich also enlists his son, Kurt, to engrave the pistol with the emblem for the 10th Mountain Division. Kurt is also participating in the punt gun build and is responsible for painting it. Kurt seems put off when he sees Dad teaching Paige how to paint firearms as they work on the Colt. Once the pistol is finished, Rich presents the weapon to Rob in true Gunsmoke style. A ′Little Bird′, Hughes 500 helicopter brings in some U.S. Navy SEALs to hand the iconic American handgun to the Army veteran. Then they go off on snowmobiles to shoot and blow up targets! Fun!

Back at the shop, Scott and Brian have another hissy fit over the punt gun barrel. Scott trims the length down to 8 feet instead of 10 without permission. They have to enlist a plumber to help make the threads for the endcap, which is still a cause for concern. The crew decides to do a test fire and sure enough, Scott is proven to be correct in his design decisions. Kurt takes the barrel to get a cool US Army style paint job while Brian frets over getting shipped the wrong type of trigger mechanism.

Meanwhile, a former Denver police officer, Bobby, pops in the shop and wants to make a trade for some magnum pistols. He shows Rich and company photos of when Elvis visited Denver and was made an honorary Captain. Along with the photos, and Elvis′ police badge, Bobby also is willing to trade a pick up truck that Elvis bought for him! Rich is excited and makes the swap.

Finally, Rich Wyatt, his wife Rene, along with Paige and Kurt present the completed punt gun to their client. The weapon is mounted on the roll bar of an ATV and now has a trigger unit from a Ma-Deuce .50 caliber machinegun. The client is impressed and since shooting ducks is illegal with the punt gun, Rich arranges for another target. An RC airplane loaded with an explosive charge. The punt gun proves to be a winner as it blasts the model aircraft out of the sky in a glorious display of fire and destruction. So the Season Two premier of American Guns on the Discovery Channel was, in one word, awesome!